Surprise!!! :)

Hi! It's meee!! Wait, you have no clue who I am...I'm not Danielle, obviously. So, hello to Danielle's beautiful readers, my name is Alana. I'm 21, pre-nursing student,  coffee addict, and makeup and skincare lover. Anyway, I wanted to talk about something a little different, and that's getting ready for your day! My getting ready routine is geared toward being ready for long school days, but it can easily be for work, or being a stay at home Mom, or anything life brings to you. :) 

Skincare
My day to day skincare routine is pretty simple, I use the Mary Kay Botanicals Effects skin care line for normal skin. I wash my face in the shower, then use toner and moisturizer after. I'm RELIGIOUS about sunscreen though, I've been wearing Neutrogena Ultra Sheer Dry Touch sunscreen in SPF 45 on my face daily for five years. Sunscreen is the single best anti-aging product there is! I adore this Neutrogena one because I can reapply it over foundation, it doesn't make my skin greasy, it's only very lightly scented (although I love the smell of sunscreen, it reminds me of summer and the beach!), it's hydrating, and you can use it on all parts of your body. 

Makeup
My philosophy towards everyday makeup is that it should be fifteen minutes or less, it should make you feel beautiful, and it shouldn't be overly fussy. There's nothing I hate more than having to touch up my makeup five times in a day. I gravitate toward a lot of long wearing makeup and natural finish skin products because they last! Having your foundation broken down and mascara smudged under your eyes at 2 in the afternoon is just no fun. I took a risk with my makeup, for me. I usually wear lots of softly smoked shadows and nude lipglosses, but I decided to make my lips the focus of my makeup! I also used all drugstore products and I tried to really limit the amount of things I used, since I wanted this look to be easy to recreate, if you so desire. Makeup risks feel a little weird at first, much like all changes we endure, but I felt really comfortable, confident, and happy , so I'll definitely be wearing this again and again! :) 

Today I used my Revlon Colorstay (for normal/dry skin) foundation mixed with my sunscreen (to sheer it out, I wanted a "my skin but smoother" look, I wanted my freckles to show through but not sacrifiace the long wear of my foundation!) all over my face and I blended it down my neck with my Real Techniques Buffing Brush; then I used my Rimmel Wake Me Up concealer under my eyes, around my nose, and on my chin (I wanted to cover some old acne scarring)  then set everything with my Rimmel Stay Matte powder (which I didnt put in the picture because the lid broke yesterday!) in Translucent. I always use translucent powder because then I never have to match it to my skin tone, and it it keeps me from looking over powdered! As for eyebrows, I didn't touch them, aside form running a spoolie (you could also clean off a used up mascara wand!) through them with a little bit of Vaseline to tame them a bit, and make them all go in one direction! However, I've always been a fan of using a matte eyeshadow slightly lighter than your brow hairs (especially if you gave dark eyebrows, but if you're a blonde, a shade darker looks lovely) on an angled brush to shape and define them. I do this only when I'm wearing a dark smoky look, so they stay strongly defined, since I like them that way! 

I wanted my lips to be the focus, so I kept my eyes and cheeks very simple, but still defined. On my cheeks I used my favorite e.l.f. Blush/Bronzer duo! I just used my blush brush and dipped it into both sides of the pan to create a custom bronzed pink shade that looks really natural! It's probably my favorite wear to wear both blush and bronzer and be really quick. I also used whatever was left on my brush after I applied it on my cheeks and blended it on my temples, just to warm them up a tiny bit! For my eyes, I used a beautiful Mary Kay bronze eyeliner and blended it into my lashline, since I just wanted my lashline to look thicker naturally! Then for mascara, I used two or three coats of my Revlon mascara! Lips, lips, lips!! I've always loved red lips (really, who doesn't?!) but never wore them day to day because they didn't stay on for me, I was always snacking and drinking water and they'd just smudge and smudge. I wore the Rimmel Show Off lip lacquer in Big Bang, and I LOVE it. It doesn't get flaky or patchy at ALL, and lasts for at least four hours! It does fade, but it fades evenly to a strawberry pink color that is still really pretty, so it didn't bother me. I wore this makeup for over ten hours and I only had to adjust my lips once after eating! 

That's all beautiful souls! Have a beautiful, wonderful, magical day, you deserve it. 

xoxo, Alana